SOLICITATION NOTICE
66 -- Purchase Electron Microscope System
- Notice Date
- 2/26/2002
- Notice Type
- Solicitation Notice
- Contracting Office
- Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, Office of Administration, 6011 Executive Blvd, Rm 538, Rockville, MD, 20892-7663
- ZIP Code
- 20892-7663
- Solicitation Number
- 263-02-P-BD-0030
- Point of Contact
- Marcia Goldman, Sr. Contract Specialist, Phone 301-496-2302, Fax 301-402-3406,
- E-Mail Address
-
goldmanm@od.nih.gov
- Description
- This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial items description, prepared in accordance with the format in FAR 12.6, as supplemented with additional information included in this notice. This notice constitutes the only solicitation, a written solicitation will not be issued. The solicitation, No. 263-02-B(BD)-0030, is issued as a Invitation for Bid. The solicitation/contract will include all applicable provisions and clauses in effect through FAC 03. The North American Industrial Standard Code code is 325412, and business size is 500 employees. This is not a small business set-aside. The National Institutes of Health(NIH), has a requirement for a electron Microscope system. This system shall include, but not be limited to, the following performance characteristics, features, and pertain to the following components: 1) Ice contamination rate shall be less than 0.5 nanometer per hour in order to perform cryoelectron microscopy of macromolecules in one hour after 50 sheets of film have been loaded in the camera. 2) The system shall operate at 300 kV beam voltage minimum in order to provide adequate electron penetration to perform electron tomography on 0.5 micrometer thick sections of cells tilted to angles of 70 degrees. 3) The system shall be compatible with software that performs fully automated electron tomography of beam-sensitive biological specimens in-low dose mode. This shall include precise correction for all axis alignments of the specimen (including focus, coma, intensity, position) and at a minimum collects an automated 120 image tilt series in less than 40 minutes in the low dose mode. 4) In transmission electron microscopy (TEM) operation, the point resolution shall be better than 0.25 nanometer and the line resolution better than 0.15 nanometer, commensurate with structural studies. For structural studies of proteins, the instrument shall be capable of achieving an information limit of 0.18 nanometer for low atomic number biological structures. 5).To study the structure of cellular organelles efficiently, the instrument shall provide magnification from 100x magnification to 700,000x magnification using a single control. For studying the composition of whole cells, the instrument shall operate with the objective lens switched on, at less than 150x magnification to obtain a minimum of 2,700 square micrometers field of view with a post column energy filter. The instrument shall maintain full resolution while operating in this fashion. 6).The instrument shall perform quantitative mass mapping of macromolecular assemblies in scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) mode at beam voltages of 300 kV, 200 kV, and 100 kV with a probe diameter below 0.5 nanometers. The STEM performance at all three voltages shall be sufficient to resolve graphite 0.34 nanometers lattice fringes with frame times of 100 seconds or longer, a performance that shall be commensurate with structural studies of macromolecules. STEM operation shall also be possible at 50 kV beam energy with a probe diameter of less than 1.0 nanometer in situations where knock-on damage is a limitation. 7) The electron source shall have high coherence to provide adequate contrast for unstained biological specimens. Graphitized carbon 0.34 nanometer lattice fringes shall be resolved at a defocus of 2 micrometers with a exposure time of 1 second, commensurate with low-dose cryoelectron microscopy of macromolecular assemblies. 8) A spatial resolution of 0.23 nanometers point to point shall be obtainable at magnifications down to 60,000x magnification and graphite 0.34 nanometer lattice fringes shall be obtainable down to 40,000x, magnification commensurate with low-dose cryoelectron microscopy of macromolecular assemblies.9) For analytical applications to measure elemental composition of biological specimens, the instrument shall pass a current of 0.5 nanoampere into a probe diameter of 1.0 nanometer.10) Operation with beam-sensitive specimens requires complex changes in electron optical parameters to maintain efficient data collection under low dose conditions. Operation of the instrument shall therefore be fully transparent in terms of control and read-out of all functions whether they are resident in the main instrument or resident in the accessories. 11) The instrument shall either: (A) accommodate three existing FEI-compatible cryo-specimen holders, as manufactured by Gatan Inc., to perform cryoelectron microscopy on (i) sets of three frozen hydrated specimens for studies of macromolecules and cryosectioned cells, (ii) frozen-hydrated specimens that are tilted to +/- 80 degrees for cryo-tomography, (iii) cryosections studied by x-ray microanalysis, or: (B) include three new cryo-specimen holders to meet the same specifications. If new holders are provided, they must be able to resolve 0.34 nanometer graphite lattice fringes at a temperature below -170 degrees Celsius .12) The accelerating voltage stability should better than 2 electron-volts per hour at 300 kV for electron energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS) operation for analyzing the elemental composition of biological specimens. The Government anticipates the award of an fixed-price definite Delivery, The required delivery schedule shall be 90 calender days after contract award. If the offeror is unable to meet the desired delivery schedule, it may, without prejudicing evaluation of its offer, propose a delivery schedule. However, the offeror?s proposed delivery schedule must not extend the delivery period beyond the Government?s REQUIRED delivery schedule of (180) calender days after award of the contract. Award will be made to the lowest, responsive, responsible bidder meeting all the required performance characteristics specified herein. Delivery shall be made FOB Destination within consignees premises to the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. The Contractor will be paid following delivery and acceptance of the microscope. The following FAR provisions/clauses are applicable to this solicitation and any resultant contract; A completed copy of the latest provision 52.212-3, Offeror Representatives and Certifications-Commercial Items, is required as part of the offer. FAR 212-1,Instructions to Offerors- Commercial Items;52.212-4 Contract Terms and Conditions- Commercial Items applies to this acquisition. The clause at 52.212-5, Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statutes Or Executive Orders-Commercial Items applies to this acquisition. FAR Clause 52.214-21 entitled Descriptive Literature is applicable. The descriptive literature is required to establish, for the purposes of bid evaluation and award, details of a product the bidder proposes to furnish as to materials, components, performance characteristics, etc. Descriptive literature must be (1) identified to show the items(s) of the offer to which it applies and (2) received by the time specified in the solicitation for receipt of bids. Failure to submit descriptive literature require rejection of the bid. The failure of descriptive literature to show that the product offered conforms to the requirements of this solicitation will require rejection of the bid. FAR 52.219-9 Small Business Subcontracting Plan. Alternate 1 is applicable. A Small Business Subcontracting Plan needs to submitted by the apparent low bidder at the time of bid opening. The subcontracting Plan must be approved within 30 days after award. The bid acceptance period must be stated on the bid through March 21, 2002. IFBs are due in the designated contracting office by 1:00p.m. local time March 12, 2002. IFB must be in writing and addressed as follows: (a) If mailing your bid through the U.S. Postal Service use the following address: National Institutes of Health, Office of Procurement Management, OA, 6011 Executive Blvd., Room 539A, MSC 7663, ATTN: Marcia Goldman, Bethesda, MD 20892-7663; (b) If hand delivering, or using courier service such as UPS, Federal Express, etc., use the following City, State and Zipcode: Rockville, MD 20852. Delivery of bids may be made Monday through Friday, between 8:30 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. local time. Any questions please call Marci Goldman on (301)496-2302.
- Place of Performance
- Address: Bethesda, Maryland
- Zip Code: 20892
- Country: USA
- Zip Code: 20892
- Record
- SN00031045-W 20020228/020226213119 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps.gov Link to This Notice
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